The Preservation of Ethnicity and Culture

One of the questions for the future that I do consider, and which for a number of reasons appears to be important, is on the Preservation of Ethnicity and Culture. To what degree should we seek to preserve elements of our ethnic and cultural heritage, and where should we allow natural progress, development, and evolution to take its course?

My question on the Preservation of Ethnicity and Culture arises from the fact that it would be a shame to lose ethnic groups, elements of culture, and the memory of distinct ancestors to the natural progress of time. When already so much has been lost in recent memory.

So much of Native American, Indigenous, and African culture has been lost to us, and in the modern world, there does not seem to be an intensive effort to preserve — or even reclaim — pieces that we might regret losing in the coming centuries.

Lessons From The Americas

In my study of the ancient history and prehistory of the Americas, I studied the “real people” in great detail. In their own languages, the names that the American Indians across the entirety of the Americas called themselves regularly translate to something along the lines of “real people” or “true people.”

(I find this to be both fascinating and curious, specifically because “real people” seems to be a designation that separates them from an other who were in some way, in their eyes, the opposite. “Anti-real people” or “False People”, which is curious. Like the Sumerian name for themselves as the “black-headed people” which suggests that they were in contact with a “not-black-headed people”, such as “blonde-hair blue-eyed” people to the north. Or like the ancient Egyptians, who called Africans “burnt-faces” which, to be fair, is accurate. It also tells us very clearly the relative skin tone of the Ancient Egyptian ethnic groups. Therefore the original meaning of “real” or “true” people is a mystery that I find interesting.)

I was raised in the belief that I was part Native American. Even though my blood is in the overwhelming majority a blend of English, German, Scottish, Irish, and Northern European, it was always my alleged Amerindian roots that I was most interested in. In my study of the “true people” I learned of the genocide against them — through war for this purpose, but also indirectly as a result of disease and famine that were consequences of contact — and how their populations never recovered.

Understanding how they were the continuation of a literal prehistoric culture who predominantly lived according to the old ways. They were nomadic hunters and gatherers most often, rather than urbanized city-builders and agriculturalists like European ancestors from the Middle East had been for 10,000 years by the time of European-Amerindian contact. (With the exception of the Incas, Olmecs, Aztecs, and a few of the agricultural tribes to the north.)

Unfortunately, from the beginning the Native Americans didn’t have a chance, regardless of whether they were invaded by Muslim world, Asian Empires, or the Europeans. All of these people were too developed in a new form of warfare and technology, and social organization uniting millions together into a connected society.

Many of their tribes fought like heroes for their country and people. Both sides devolved often into barbarism in the brutal, vengeful, vicious, enraged conflict. Women, children, and families were killed on both sides, which, once begun, created an unstoppable cycle of hatred. (If my tribe, if my family was killed, I would have been just as vengeful. So, as horrible as it was, I get it.)

Some tribes were renowned warriors. Others displayed incredible social and political cunning. Too frequently the white laws were twisted, and broken, against the natives, who were thrust into a game they couldn’t have hoped to understanding.

Not least because the letter of the law, and its enforcement, were two different things. Both of which could be vetoed by those in power when convenient. It was essentially a game where the whites made up the rules on a case-by-case basis, because the point of the game is The Whites Win At All Costs. To be honest, it is hard to blame them.

During the Muslim Conquests of the Middle Ages, or German aggression of the World Wars, is the correct response to say “Sure! Invade. Take our lands. Take our young girls and kill our boys!” Not for me, personally.

Context is important. Which is why much of the ideas of fairness, inclusiveness, and gentleness that are common among most young generations who grew up in peace, historically speaking, while noble, are not applicable in the context of the violent, dangerous, hard times that defined historical eras. Please, stand on the front lines and express your ideals in calm, respectful words to the invading armies of Genghis Khan, Hitler, Alexander the Great, Norse Vikings, Qin Shi Huang Di or the British Empire.

My money is on the fact that the don’t even hear you over their rattling mail, iron swords, thundering hooves, war drums, and the earthquake of war elephants. All that would be remembered is one soldier remarking to his friend at the end of the battle, “It was the strangest thing! There were these three people, one of them a woman, standing right at the front lines without weapons or armour, who looked like they might have been saying something…”

In the end, the Native Americans didn’t have a chance at victory against Europe. Their numbers were too small even before contact to compete with a larger, more technologically and politically advanced and cohesive populous. We were united — to some degree — into entire countries politically which dwarfed even confederacies of tribes.

Honestly, this is the story of history wherever you look. Everybody has been enslaved and decimated at one time or another. I don’t see how anything could have been any different, and I hold no blame for either side, really. (And there is more than enough blame to go around.)

European peasants needed freedom, land, and opportunity away from an increasingly competitive and violent life they were forced to lead. They found that in the Americas. What happened in the centuries that followed — disease, competition, war over land that all humans technically have a right to — is but a larger scale of the same thing that had been occurring between human tribes from the beginning. It is hard for me to assign blame, when I would probably do the same thing if I was faced with death or starvation. I would probably align with whatever side I was born or raised into.

The thing that always gets me however, is how much of a tragedy it would be for American Indian Ethnicity and Culture to become extinct. What I would like to see, is for the Real People to stabilize their communities, preserve their language and culture to whatever degree is possible, practical, and desired, preserve their bloodlines to some degree, and gradually accumulate wealth, power, success, education and skills to become leaders in the Americas in some way once again. Maybe in a few decades from now, or a few centuries. This would make me happy, and it is something that I would like to see reflected in history. A Native American renaissance so to speak.

This is what I mean by the potential value of the Preservation of Ethnicity and Culture. In this specific case with the First Nations people, yet this should be in the thoughts of all ethnic and cultural groups to some degree. As Canadians, as African Americans, as a united African nation, and yes, as the greater Caucasian (Indo-European, Near East, Central Asian, and Indian cultural group) too.

Many As One, One As Many

It is an inevitability — especially in the Americas today — that we are blending ethnically. It is my opinion that we should as well, based purely on the science: to build a better, stronger, genetically superior, healthier, more resilient human species, we need greater genetic variation. That is a scientific fact. Improve the species by connecting the diverse genes pools so the best of all can be infused into one. From this perspective the genetic melting-pot of the Americas is ideal.

On the one hand, we should move towards a racially ambiguous blend of white, red, brown, black, and yellow — with the final character colour of human only recently being unlocked, orange — which we are doing naturally anyways. Yet on the other hand, I also feel that there is value in people preserving their ethnic, cultural, and historic roots as well.

Perhaps I am being sentimental, or nostalgic. But in a thousand years, I think that humanity could only be enriched if, as a small subset of greater multicultural nations, there remained relatively intact cultural heritage and perhaps bloodlines of the Han (Chinese), Yayoi or Yamato (Japanese), Norse (Vikings), or perhaps the Dene, Cherokee, or Navaho.

(To be fair, the modern descendants of the Yamato and Han are doing very well in this regard … a little bit too xenophobic, perhaps. At least in my opinion.)

In essence my feeling is that the majority of people today are simply not aware of how quickly we can lose our history, how much has already been lost, including things we might regret losing in the future. All that this means is that we need to be a little more careful, and conscious. There is a degree to which we should respect the memory of our ancestors, and their traditions, by choosing to remember them. While recognizing that remembering the past and wholly embracing the natural evolution of both genetic expression and culture, are not mutually exclusive.

An Ominous, Sobering Truth

One of the things to consider too, related to the Preservation of Ethnicity and Culture, is that race-based genocide is almost inevitable. We have seen it in probably every ethnic group from the beginning of history, at one time or another, and we will see it again. Unfortunately, this is a sobering reality.

The Hebrew peoples are the perfect example. They preserved their ethnicity and culture, and have repeatedly paid for it. White people — while they technically include all people from Iran, India except the Dravidians, Persia, Turkey, Russia, Europe, and much a large percentage of Central Asia and the Middle East — if we limit the distinction to just European bloodlines, we are becoming a minority in the Americas slowly. (I think they are the ethnic minority in the U.K. now.) What if this lays the foundation for future genocide? What is seven generations from now, our people are subjected to the abuse that we have historically shown all minorities.

One the one hand, we reap what we sow.

On the other hand, however, I believe that it is our duty to adjust our thinking and actions now to prevent any future genocide. How? I am not entirely sure. Uniting our ethnic groups in America by allowing ourselves to continue mixing — f#$k*nG our way out of racism (thx Neil Brennan lol) — as we have been, but also taking steps to preserve our cultural, religious, and traditional heritage from our ancestors as a whole group together. Which will be even more important, the more mixed that we become as a species.

Yet with that being said, we also need to be careful about the influences we allow in our culture. In the Americas, for example, we need to be more discerning about the ideas we allow in. I want to preface what I am about to say with a blanket statement that I know more about the cultures, histories, and religions that I am about to name than probably most of the natives of those regions. I love and respect them — but not all of them. With that being said…

While the Chinese are great at many things, how they treat animals is not something that I personally tolerate. I have seen their markets first hand. If you order dog off the menu, sometimes you have to wait because it takes time to catch a local stray. (True story. I did not consume the animal, but those I was with did.) An aquaintance of mine had his dog stolen and eaten. (To be fair, this was revenge for a fight that he got in with locals, but all the same.)

The same thing with Muslims. Their treatment of gods from a cultural perspective does not align with Western values — not that the West is perfect in this regard even, but the values are clearly different, which is what I am pointing out. Muslim practices related to gender roles also reflect different cultural values. The amount of rapes in European countries committed by Middle Eastern immigrants and refugees is astonishing, and is a direct result of cultural differences of different ethnicities, since women are consider more as property (which they used to be in Europe not too long ago as well).

A part of preserving culture means that each nation also has to decide what their values are, what is important to them, since to not make clear distinctions is to allow anything to emerge in that vacuum. Moreover, I am not so certain that pure tolerance in the form of “everyone can do whatever they want” is the right thing. There are things that we should say “no” to with ruthless finality. Like what the Muslims should do with Bacha Baz, which is culturally accepted paedophilia and sexual exploitation of young boys in the Middle East. Even from a Muslim perspective, I believe that this is a crime against Allah.

This is cultural, not the product of being a Muslim. Let us make that clear. However, in my opinion, we should discriminate against such practices. We should be discriminatory to cultural practices that do not align with what we collectively consider to be national and cultural values.

The problem is that every culture should be free to make those same determinations. Yet at no point should we ever be too afraid of offending another culture, or being perceived as being “racist” or “xenophobic” or “discriminatory” to speak up and say that a certain aspect of another culture is not permitted on moral and ethical grounds.

This is by definition a form of discrimination. Yet it is one that we have to apply, such as in the ways I mentioned above. But also one that we should apply objectively to our native culture as well, because for everything we perceive as rotten or diseased in another culture, that same state exists in our culture as well. (Issues within paedophilia in Christian religions, for example, and the rampant materialism and corruption that we see in our world today.)

On The Preservation of Ethnicity and Culture

In this regard, and in this specific way, I believe that it is clear we need to be more discerning both in our preservation of traditions, but also in what we choose to preserve in our cultures moving forwards. This doesn’t just apply to those outside either. We allow corruption to grow, and we allow people with wealth and power to get away with breaking the law, because the system works in their favour. We allow a precedent, to grow into cultural system, which becomes very challenging to uproot in the future.

While I initially began with an emphasis on Preservation of Ethnicity, there is a degree to which this is impossible. Genetic admixture is only increasing in our modern world, and preserving narrow bloodlines has historically proven to cause more problems than not. From disease and genetic disorders to genocide.

Yet with that being said, it is not the ethnicity that is all that important per se, but the culture, ancestors, and ancestral ways tied to it. Even this should only be preserved to the degree that future evolution, adaptation, and change is not inhibited by the memory of the past.

While the majority of Americans today trace their roots back to Europe (the minorities to Africa and Asia and some who have been in America since the Last Ice Age) most don’t know anything about where they came from.

Maybe it doesn’t matter. Mostly. But it does a little bit. How many Americans realize that their European ancestors trace their bloodlines back to the Middle East, Anatolia and the Fertile Crescent? Even the whitest Irish and Norwegians, are from the Middle East. Maybe understanding this fact, and the flow of time between then and now in broad details won’t change anything.

On the other hand, maybe it will.

After all, it is harder to hate something when you realize that you speak a similar language, and hail from the same homeland.